1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system, method and program product for inserting targeted content into a portlet content stream. Specifically, the present invention allows the targeted content to be inserted into a portlet content stream based on a desired display mode of the portlet.
2. Background Art
As the use of the Internet becomes more pervasive, better technology is constantly being developed for displaying web content. To this extent, portal servers have become the technology of choice in delivering web content to users. Typically, a portal server includes a portal program (e.g., WEBSPHERE from International Business Machines Corporation of Armonk, N.Y.), which arranges web content into a portal page of portlets. Each portlet includes a section of web content formatted according to a user's preferences. For example, a user could establish his/her own portal page that has portlets for news, weather, and sports. The portal program would obtain the desired web content from the appropriate content providers, aggregate the web content, and then display the web content in the appropriate portlets as a portal web page. This portal technology has led to the explosion of personalized “home” pages for individual web users.
This growth in Internet usage has caused Internet advertising (e.g., banner advertisements, pop-up advertisements, etc.) to become of one of the top revenue producing services of the Internet. Specifically, virtually every web page has some form of advertising associated with it. Unfortunately, much of this advertising is less targeted than it could be. For example, advertising content that is delivered through separate pop-up windows or banner advertisements are easily dismissed/ignored by the users. These types of advertisements have become so widespread that many users often feel that Internet advertising is invading their machine. This has lead to the development of many programs for limiting advertisements from an incoming content stream.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a system, method and program product for targeting web content. Specifically, there exists a need for a system, method and program product for inserting targeted content into a portlet content stream. A need also exists for the targeted content to be inserted based on a desired display mode of a user. This helps ensure that the user's attention is focused where the targeted content is displayed.